


Time of the Month

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Series: lexi's summer sizzle fics [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Full Moon, Full Shift Werewolves, Light Angst, Olicity Summer Sizzle, Pack Dynamics, Pack Family, Pre-Relationship, Werewolf Oliver Queen, Werewolves Turn Into Actual Wolves, Wolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 16:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19705555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: The full moon is approaching and Felicity is worried about how it might affect Oliver, given his werewolf nature.





	Time of the Month

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [You Are The Wolf (And I Am The Moon)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4512360) by [AlexiaBlackbriar13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13). 



> for the olicity summer sizzle weekly challenge supernatural element AU prompt xx

"So the full moon is coming up."

Oliver glanced up from where he was seated in semi-darkness, sharpening a quiver-full of arrows. Felicity's rich scent hit his nose the precise moment they met each other's eyes, and Oliver gave a small smile as he inhaled vanilla, lavender, and honey; his eyes danced over her face, breaking down her expression, noting that she was showing wariness, curiosity, and fondness.

The wolf preening inside of him at the attention, his lips quirked and he asked, "What about it?"

"Aren't you going to..." Felicity waved her hands absently, leaning on her network set-up table and kicking her heels. "You know -" She gave a faint imitation of a wolf howl (damn, she sounded like an adorable screeching puppy) and she curled her hands into claws, raising her eyebrows.

It made Oliver laugh. Felicity pouted at him for that, crossing her arms. Oliver flashed his amber wolf eyes at her, making her jump, and then she laughed too. 

"It doesn't work that way," he assured her, placing his arrows down to rise to his feet, a warm feeling blossoming inside his chest. "I'm not going to go half-wolf and try and rip your throat out or anything. You'll be safe."

Felicity pointed at him. "But you will be affected. I knew it!"

"It's not going to absolutely force me to shift, Felicity," Oliver explained warmly while managing to sound a little exasperated as well. "There is practically no connection between lycanthropes and the full moon in real life."

Felicity wandered over to him and leaned over him, watching him with his arrows. Heat burnt in his chest as he reveled in the fact that the blonde was watching him.

"So where do the myths where werewolves turn at the full moon come from?" Felicity asked, intrigued, as she handed the next arrow over to him.

Oliver grabbed a flint instead of using his sharpening machine, mostly because trying to ignore the incessant noise that would assault his ears while trying to listen to Felicity would fry his brain. “Well, when it’s the full moon, there’s more light at night. It’s easier for wolves to see to hunt, so more wolves are active. That’s for actual wolves, though. For werewolves… it's hormonal,” he told her. "I told you about pack dynamics, right?"

“About having a pack leader - an Alpha - and a social hierarchy, yeah,” she nodded.

Oliver tilted his head, hands falling into his lap as he tried to figure out a way to explain without freaking Felicity out. "There's a little more to that, that I didn't tell you." He motioned for her to sit down in front of him.

"Obviously, you have the Alpha of the pack, the leader, the one making all the key decisions. The wolves in the social hierarchy can also be defined. There are Betas, which are usually normal wolves, the middle class that hunt and protect the territory. They fight rival packs and provide for the mothers, the sick and the pups. They fight for places in their own pecking order, because the top two Betas you could consider as the Alpha's right and left-hand men."

"Do you have two Betas?" Felicity questioned, leaning forward in anticipation.

Oliver smiled at her again, relaxing back into his seat. "I suppose so, yes. Where would I be without my black driver and trusty IT assistant?"

Felicity punched him lightly in the arm, beaming. "Aw, that's sweet. Looks like the sour wolf is brightening up a little."

"Only because of you," he teased back. "Below the Betas, you have the Omegas. They keep the peace in the pack. They make sure relationships are healthy between pack members, run back up for Betas. When the pack has pups, they usually look after them the most. Omegas are very protective." His face fell slightly. "But I suppose they have a bad reputation for being the bitches of the pack. They don't hunt, don't fight... They get picked on by the Betas, usually because they’re not as large in stature." He shrugged. "Partly why I don't have any Omegas in my pack."

"Why? Just because they're smaller?" Felicity looked angrily affronted.

"When you live a life like mine, you can't have any non-contributors in your pack." Oliver chipped at his arrow using the flint. "I don't have any pups, no sick wolves. I'm fighting a war for my city and everybody needs to be able to offer something." He glanced at her. "If an Omega needed protection, I wouldn't be against accepting them into the pack. It just wouldn't be very productive."

"This is cool and all, but I don't see how this ties into the full moon hormonal stuff."

"Different wolves, whether you're an Alpha, Beta or Omega, have different endocrine systems. It just so happens that, like the human menstrual cycle, wolf mating cycles are monthly and co-inside with the full moon."

Felicity's eyes popped wide open, as wide as plates and she squeaked, "Mating cycles?"

"No, no, not like that!" Oliver stood and placed his hands on her shoulders, hoping to ground her, his instincts yelling at him to comfort her. "It's nothing like you're thinking, Felicity. The cycle is just a large release of hormones once a month that makes the wolf more fertile, and more likely to pass the lycanthrope gene on. It’s a survival and evolution thing."

"... How long does it last?" She asked, in a quiet, hesitant voice.

Oliver shrugged. "Depends on the wolf. For me, it lasts two to three days. For others, it can last a week. The hormones affect the body by urging it to accept wolf instincts over human ones - which is mostly where I think the whole forced to turn into a wolf myth comes from - so generally, two to three days a month, I stay in wolf form until the cycle finishes. It’s not painful and it’s not going to make me go crazy or anything - it’ll just be a little uncomfortable, and tiring, and my emotions will be… raw."

Felicity breathed out and then whacked him in the chest.

"What was that for?" he accused, rubbing his chest, despite the fact it didn't really hurt.

"For freaking me out about the whole full moon stuff!" She whacked him again. "You really scared me there! When you said mating cycle, I thought that meant I'd walk in tomorrow and suddenly you'd try to jump me!"

"No jumping," he grinned. "No jumping of any kind, unless if it's over fences, gates or walls. Gotta love parkour."

"Oh, haha," she mocked him, sliding away back to her monitor set up and collapsing into her chair. "We'll see who's laughing tomorrow, mister."

* * *

Felicity entered the code to the Foundry, pulling her handbag further onto her shoulder. The door opened as usual and she began marching down the stairs, babbling to her partners (she assumed they were down there, because they were always down there) about their latest target on the List, when she froze.

Diggle had appeared around the corner, hands held out to stop her, his eyes wide with worry. She halted at the bottom of the stairs, shooting him a concerned, questioning glance.

Diggle strode over to her and began guiding her away from her set up into the corner of the lair. "He's shifted, he's not shifting back and he keeps on growling at me if I get within five meters of his space."

"Well, he's bound to be cranky," she rolled her eyes. "It is his wolf mating cycle."

Diggle stopped and said, incredulous, "I'm sorry, what?!"

"Didn't he tell you?" Felicity's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She thought Oliver would have told his Beta about his wolfy problems. "Oh man, he didn't. You know what, let me try with him. He might be comforted more by a woman's touch." She winked at him before heading over where deep growling was coming from.

She knelt when she realized where he was, and raised an eyebrow. Oliver was curled up under one of the metal tables, in wolf form with his fangs bared, hiding in a large nest of what looked like blankets, spare shirts, and towels. His russet fur was bristling, the black mantle over his shoulders and spine making him appear huge despite his hunched over posture. When Felicity shuffled forward hesitantly, reaching her hand out, the wolf's amber eyes flashed dangerously and he uttered a fierce snarl.

"Don't take that attitude with me, mister," Felicity said warningly. "Just because it's your wolfy time of the month doesn't mean you can go all growly."

The growling died down and ended on a soft whine as Oliver rose to his paws and nuzzled her hand with his snout hesitantly, tail between his legs and ears erect and alert.

"There we go," Felicity managed a tender smile. "That's better."

The wolf finally slipped out from his hiding place and began rubbing his sides and snout all over Felicity as she continued to kneel before him. She held perfectly still, knowing that the wolf was scent-marking her to gain a sense of familiarity and safety. After a few moments, Oliver's tail began wagging slightly and he bounced around her, nipping at her sweater playfully.

"Huh." Diggle had been watching from a way away, arms crossed and eyebrows completely raised in surprise. He obviously hadn't been expecting Felicity's 'woman's touch' thing to work. "I'm beginning to feel like the third wheel here. He's always calmer around you."

"He just needs a gentler hand.”

She began stroking Oliver’s wiry fur as he pressed his head into her shoulder with a purring growl, threading her fingers through his thick pelt. The blond and hazel streaks in his russet fur flashed in the light as her hands created ripples in his coat. Oliver’s tongue was lolling out his mouth at this point, his ears pricked happily. Felicity laughed and knelt down when he rolled over onto his back, exposing his belly for her to scratch. She knew what a massive thing it was for Oliver to be doing that, as wolves’ stomachs were incredibly vulnerable and often where their enemies or rivals would attack them to cause the most damage. He was trusting her with that vulnerable part of himself and Felicity wouldn’t take that for granted.

“Calmed down now, Oliver?” she questioned. He huffed in response, and tailed Felicity through the Foundry as she crossed the room to take a seat in front of her set-up. “Well, obviously you’re not going out tonight, unless you plan on patrolling or taking down somebody from the List as a wolf.”

The wolf grumbled and settled down on his haunches beside her, resting his head in her lap. He was obviously in agreement with her about not going out; the last time the vigilante had gone on a patrol in his canine form, he’d attracted far too much attention from law enforcement than was safe. Animal control and a couple of normal cops had tried to shoot him, thinking he was some huge feral wolf that had invaded the city after wandering in from the forest. There were a few packs of wolves local to the state, Felicity knew from her research, but they usually lived further north in the mountainous regions. If the police really thought that Oliver was one of those wolves - especially considering he was twice the size of a normal wolf - it was no wonder that a vigilante was needed to keep the crime rates down.

Since they weren’t going to be taking down anybody from the List until Oliver’s wolf mating cycle resided, Felicity decided to get a head start on researching some other List members. Diggle cleaned his weapons behind her, the metallic clicks creating pleasant background noise as she combed through police and FBI databases for information. Meanwhile, the wolf curled up underneath her desk, his warm furry body pressing up against her legs almost possessively. Felicity remembered that Oliver told her that his wolf instincts would be dialed up to ten, overwhelming his human ones, so reckoned that maybe he was leaning into those strong feelings of protectiveness he had for her as his Beta.

“Hey, Oliver, if your canine instincts are heightened at the moment, does that mean if I throw a tennis ball, you’ll run and fetch it for me?” she asked, leaning back in her chair to peer under the table at him with an amused smirk.

The wolf’s muzzle wrinkled. He nipped at the delicate skin of her ankle with a gruff noise, making her emit a yelp of pain. She glowered at him half-heartedly and he glared back, before gently licking at where he’d lightly bitten her with his rough tongue, soothing the wound.

“That’s disgusting,” Felicity told him. “And I’m a little disappointed you won’t chase a tennis ball for me. That would be funny.”

“He’d probably chase squirrels across the street, if we took him out in public,” Diggle said dryly. He merely raised an eyebrow when Oliver poked his head out of his hiding space and growled at him, his eyes flashing. He’d done that so many times now that it wasn’t scary anymore. “You would, don’t deny it. You chased that coyote down by 23rd and Windemore last month.”

Oliver made a show of cleaning his fangs so they glinted in the harsh lights, as if hoping this show of intimidation would get them to back off and stop teasing him. Felicity stopped, only because she recollected his comment about his emotions being much rawer in this form. Joking around was all fun and games until Oliver’s feelings were actually hurt, and she could sense they were encroaching on that territory already. Oliver didn’t like his wolf-self very much and despised the more primal parts of himself.

Diggle, who had grappled with Oliver in his wolf form before after pressing his buttons too hard, knew exactly what it felt like for those fangs to be buried in his forearm. He hastily raised his hands in the surrender position. “Hey man, I was just pointing out the facts. Didn’t mean any disrespect. I promise.”

Releasing a satisfied noise, the wolf dropped his head back down again, this time so it rested on top of Felicity’s feet. He seemed comfy, so Felicity tried not to jostle him too much by shifting her legs, despite the itches and small cramps she started to feel. He was incredibly hot against her legs, like a giant furry blanket. Felicity wasn’t going to complain though, because the Foundry was often very cold.

Within ten minutes or so, Oliver was asleep, his huge body slowly rising and falling with his deep breathing. He appeared content. His slumber must have been restful, because he didn’t move beyond his ears and paws occasionally twitching. Felicity wondered what the wolf dreamt about when he wasn’t having nightmares.

“He’s asleep?” Diggle asked in a whisper.

Felicity nodded. She noted how Oliver didn’t react at all, so she knew he wasn’t faking his sleep. “Yep. He’s probably exhausted. He did warn me that mating cycles make him tired.”

“You’re staying here for the next couple of days until this wolf mating cycle thing ends to keep an eye on him,” Diggle ordered, pointing at her. “I don’t want to get bitten and you’re my only hope of avoiding that.”

“You know he only bites you when he’s scared, angry or annoyed,” Felicity sighed. “And he’s never bitten you badly. He’s barely broken skin except for that one time you had that argument where you insulted his leadership decisions and shoved him into the weapons counter.” She quirked her eyebrows, pensive. “Huh. I wonder if he thought you were challenging him for the Alpha position or something, and that’s why he reacted so forcefully.”

Diggle shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Lyla’s started questioning why my arms are covered in teeth marks when we meet up for coffee. I keep telling her that it’s just Oliver being a little mouthy when we spar, but I don’t know if she believes me. If she begins to get the idea that Oliver’s wolf is turning feral, she’ll have to report it to ARGUS. Waller will want him to start getting sedative shots and we both know how _that_ will go down.”

They both did, unfortunately. They’d only ever had one mission where ARGUS had been involved. They’d asked Oliver to bring in a lycanthrope who happened to be an ARGUS agent gone rogue, who was on the run in Starling; Oliver’s wolf had snapped at one of the agents transporting the knocked out man to the holding facility, when the guy had said something mocking and tried to pet him. They’d shot Oliver with a weird tranquilizer dart they’d had on hand containing a wolfsbane-based sedative. It had caused the archer to act hungover for days afterward, too shaky to even aim his bow.

“Oliver’s not turning feral, though,” Felicity argued.

“Just… keep an eye on him,” Diggle said. “Stay down here and keep him calm. You’re his favorite person, so that shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Got it.” She gave him a thumbs up.

“I’ll check in every couple of hours until this is over and Oliver’s back to normal. Text me if you need anything?”

“What if I need you to drop off food for me?” she asked sweetly.

The bodyguard rolled his eyes fondly. “Since you’ll be dealing with the sour wolf, I’ll concede this one time and act as your personal delivery service.”

“You’re the best.”

Diggle departed, leaving Felicity alone with Oliver, who was still asleep under her monitor set-up. She managed to worm her feet out from under his head so she could slide out of her chair and sit on the floor beside the wolf. Nestling down so she was lying on her back, Felicity used Oliver’s body as a pillow. It wasn’t exactly late at night yet - it hadn’t hit midnight, for sure - but a nice nap wouldn’t hurt. The floor was freezing, but Oliver was like a space heater in comparison, so she knew she would be able to get to sleep.

“Just you and me, Oliver, for the next few days,” she murmured, stroking over one of his massive paws that was near her. “Sounds good, right?”

The wolf snuffled in his sleep in agreement.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be good.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed xx
> 
> twitter: @lexiblackbriar  
> tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13


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